I remember getting her second hand from holland where she was up for sale including a tug,our thrifty boss bought her without the tug as she had a pair of egg whisks fitted and he claimed she was self propelled,after a repaint she was moored in the empress for trials we watched as the lines were cast off and with all the grace of a hugh prey mantis she sailed down wind to the opposite side despite the best efforts of the egg whisks,from then on she was accompanied by two tugs,yep there is thrift and there is thrift!!!

Wilton-Fijenoord was a shipbuilding and repair company in Schiedam in the Netherlands from 1929 to 1999.

During the second world war Wilton-Fijenoord built several submarine's for the German Kriegsmarine. In that time the yard had a manpower of 4,000 up to 6,500 man, whereas other yards in Rotterdam and Schiedam shrank their activities. After the war Wilton-directie were caught put because of their far-reaching collaboration

Hi all,I was involved in the construction of the floating crane "Canute" originally named:"MAMMOET".It has been build up for the purpose as a warfcrane fully by Wilton-Fijenoord shipyard in Schiedam Holland under supervision of the German company "Demag".Even the 2 M.A.N. diesels are W.F. fabrication. ( my job)It was cristened March the 31th 1969 and come in service feb. 1970.The use of the crane decreased dramatically because of the demise in the shipbuilding industry during the years after.Finally it has been sold for GBP 685.012,-- at 10.15 A.M. march 28 1985. In front of me is a copy of the original solicitor's declaration found yesterday in the archives of the city of Schiedam.I'm glad to find the crane back after 5 years of searching....Kind regards, Frank